Divergence
by cooldude22345
Summary: What happens when we change the class roster?
1. the first day of the rest of your life

I've got no idea where I'm going with this. I'm rusty, I'm stressed out, and I just want to get some damn lines of text posted here for once. Anyways, just relax and enjoy.

Also, to anyone who might've gotten an author alert from me and stumbled upon this—yeah, it's lucky star, tough shit, I like what I like. So if you're gonna say something, at least make it funny.

Ok, now relax and enjoy.

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><p>The week before school starts is unexpectedly... calm. Things are about as exciting as the commute to Saitama—slow, monotonous, suffocatingly crowded. It seems as though everybody came to try on their school uniforms, judging from the groups of girls piling into empty classrooms with unopened plastic bags under their arms.<p>

Kagami manages to catch their conversations in passing, something about how cute the uniforms are, then something about how heavy the fabric is, how summer is right around the corner and how can anyone survive the heat like this? She just doesn't see the big deal. They'll be indoors most of the time, anyways.

"Huh," Kagami frowns, barely able to make out the kanji of her name over the heads of the mob. "Class 2-B. I don't think we're in the same homeroom."

"Oh..."

She throws her arm around Tsukasa's drooping shoulders, silently festering with rage. Put in extra hours at the shrine, make sure to pray twice a day, and this is how she's rewarded?

Her stomach churns at the thought of an entire year alone with a bunch of strangers, going through the hard work of making friends again when all she really wants is to take care of Tsukasa and read her novels in peace. That's... not to say she dislikes people. She just likes her space; maintaining friendships takes work, and honestly, she'll need all the energy possible for school these next three years.

"Oi! Hiiragi!" Kusakabe's raucous voice calls out to her, and Kagami almost groans at the thought of dealing with her over-abundance of energy right now.

She pops out of the crowd with Minigeshi in tow, waving her arm frantically as though Kagami wasn't standing just ten feet from her. "Oi!"

"Hey," Kagami deadpans, admittedly amused at Misao's offended reaction.

"Geez! After all the support I gave you last year, too!"

"... Support for what, exactly?"

"Too bad we're not in the same class this time," She says, ignoring the older twin's question and going for an arm-pat. "Don't worry, Hiiragi—me and Ayano will take care of imouto-san for you!"

Tsukasa looks scandalized, and Kagami is lost. "Huh?"

"Yep! Your sister's gonna be with us this year!"

Oh...

Ayano steps forward, smiling in that angelic manner only she could pull off. "Misa-chan was excited—and then she realized that it wasn't your name on the list, but your sister's."

Misao's jaw drops halfway to the floor. "Y-You promised you wouldn't tell!"

"Eheh... Sorry..."

Kagami forces a smile.

Misao and Ayano are good people, and she can trust them to keep Tsukasa company, though she's not sure whether Tsukasa will ever get used to Kusakabe's energetic personality; she's also not sure how she feels about a blabbermouth like Tsukasa being around somebody as sneaky and unforgiving as Misao.

Ayano catches her eye and winks, as though in reassurance.

"Well, imouto," Misao exclaims after catching her breath, grabbing Tsukasa's hand and giving it a hard shake. "I'm Misao, and that girl there is Ayano. Since we'll be in the same class, _and _you happen to be Hiiragi's sister, I figured we could go for some ice-cream or something—you can come too, Hiiragi! Yeah?"

"Um," Tsukasa stammers, glancing at Kagami helplessly. The older twin just crosses her arms and shrugs. "S-Sure..."

Misao laughs cheerfully while Ayano looks on in mild confusion. "I never agreed to this..."

"Oh, boo!" She turns to Kagami, eyes shimmering hopefully, and the twin can't help but relent.

"Fine."

Misao cheers, and the four end up going to a new ice-cream shop close by. Unfortunately, nobody remembered to bring any money, so they all settle for a trip to the Kusakabe house. They have no ice-cream, but fruit is just as good.

Tsukasa was reluctant at first—she's always been the least adventurous of the Hiiragi's—but by the end of the day she's laughing alongside Ayano at Misao's horrid impersonation of Kagami, who simply looks on with mild annoyance.

"Knock it off," Kagami grumbles, pelting Misao on the head with a grape. She shifts onto her elbow and smirks, watching the fanged girl scramble for the grape before the three-second rule ran out.

"So, good luck with the, ah, new year and all," Misao says through a mouthful of grapes. "Sucks we couldn't all be in the same class."

Really... That again? Just when she thought she'd forgotten about it, too.

Kagami shakes her head and sighs as a way of appeasement, but what she really feels about it is so much more emotional and embarassing and stupid and _god, _why didn't the prayers work? Why doesn't Tsukasa look as disturbed by this as she, herself, feels?

"... Hiiragi! You listening?"

Kagami blinks at the chocolate chip flung onto her shirt. "Yeah," she mutters, chucking a second grape at Misao.


	2. enter konata

Thank you for the review, kind stranger, though I wish you'd make a damn account so I can properly reply to you.

Forgive me for saying this, but I don't really plan on setting up a complex plot for this story. I'm mostly testing out new ideas and techniques, so if there's anything that you think could be improved, just let me know.

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><p>A week went by since school started, and Kagami's mood was steadily nosediving.<p>

Her homeroom teacher was exceptionally vulgar despite her mild appearance, with a penchant for tardiness and corporal punishment. Kagami thought back to her previous teachers, wondering how their classes were going right then. Elementary was foggy, such that she could barely remember their names or what they looked like, but middle school was recent enough to recall that those teachers were professional, kind, and_ never _late to class. She wondered how they would react to Miss Kuroi's jagged, tardy personality.

"... go ahead, Takara-san," Miss Kuroi said to the pink-haired girl up front, the newly appointed class president, and Kagami remembered why she had been in a sour mood all week.

Miyuki Takara was good, no doubt, scoring highest in class on the entrance exams, and she was damn gorgeous, exuding an air of angelic perfection everywhere she walked. Kagami scribbled angrily on her notebook, trying hard not to look as pathetic as she felt.

The class president went around collecting that week's homework, thanking those who did it, sternly reprimanding those who didn't and managing to do so with utmost grace. Kagami was smoldering by the time she got around to her.

"Here," she said bluntly, then, remembering her manners, blushed and added, "Takara-san."

Miyuki simply smiled and moved on, leaving Kagami to fester in embarrassment and self-loathing. She reached into her bag for her history book, a notepad, and a pencil—_un-sharpened_, damn it!-in preparation for the next lesson.

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><p>Social studies with Miss Kuroi wasn't too bad. It was a lot of note-taking, sure, maybe even a bit more than she'd expected, but nothing she couldn't handle. Kuroi's habit of veering off-topic at every opportunity made it easier to keep up with her notes on the board, whenever she could be bothered to write them. Most of the time she just read out of her book. The other teachers' lessons were quick and concise—daydreaming for more than a second could mean doubling up on studying at home, as she came to learn on her second day.<p>

Gym class was fun. The class finally got their gym uniforms, and they started with a 'team exercise,' which in Kuroi's view amounted to pelting each other with balls for an hour. Kagami was good, no doubt, probably one of the strongest throwers in class (a fact she silently held close to her heart), but those damn boys with their pride and testosterone just didn't know how to take a loss, stubbornly refusing to sit out even when flattened out by a well-aimed throw.

Kuroi blasted her whistle, the game stopped, and everybody headed back to their homeroom class for a much-needed lunch break.

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><p>She was setting up her bento, a delicacy made by Tsukasa's capable hands, when a slap of blue in her peripheral caught her attention.<p>

"Oh, wow. This is a good series," a girl said, bending down to pick something up off the ground. "Good taste."

Kagami blinked at the book held out to her, cheeks flushing in embarrassment when she saw it was her copy of Spice and Wolf. "... Thanks," she murmured, taking back the book with a slow, cautious movement. "Ah, Izumi-san?"

"Konata's fine," the girl said with a wave of her hand.

There was a brief lull in the conversation; Kagami stared at Konata for a few seconds before the girl pointed a finger at her. "You're..."

"H-Hiiragi Kagami!" Kagami stammered, mortified at her own lack of courtesy.

"Nice to meet you, Hiiragi-chan," Konata said, pulling up a chair and brandishing a chocolate coronet from her sleeve.

It was admittedly exciting to meet someone with whom she could share her love for reading; she went into this new friendship starry-eyed and with open arms, but reality quickly set to work, and the girl's true nature came out in all its otaku glory.

She was... nice enough, but god, all she talked about was anime. It soon became apparent that Konata hadn't actually read Spice and Wolf, or any light novel, for that matter, choosing to watch anime instead and avoid reading whenever possible.

"Yeah... I mean, I never really liked reading in the first place, and light novels would just ruin the show for me. Like Spice and Wolf—I bet if I tried reading the books, I'd get all bored, and then the show would seem boring, too. Know what I mean?"

Kagami gaped at her complete lack of drive, the fundamental element to properly enjoying a masterpiece like Spice and wolf.

Their one-sided conversation ended along with lunch as Miss Kuroi returned to class, barking angrily at the students taking their sweet time getting to their desks.

"Bye-bye," Konata hummed, waving at Kagami as she took her seat in the back.

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><p>Honestly, her first encounter with an actual otaku wasn't too bad. Looking back, it was actually pretty enjoyable talking to Konata; sure, most of the stuff she said may as well have been gibberish to Kagami, but she at least had a general idea of the otaku's points, and at least they had something to talk about. That was more than she could say for her other classmates—boys and clothes were starting to become all anyone could talk about, and Kagami had never really been one for gossiping or spending exorbitant amounts of her parent's money on skirts.<p>

She was lost in thought when Miss Kuroi, having somehow slipped into class without being noticed, barked her name sharply. "Hiiragi! Where's your book?"

"Ah—sorry!" she gasped, digging through her bag for the appropriate math textbook. It was brand-new, and still wrapped in the plastic; she had an embarrassing time peeling it off while a disgruntled Kuroi and amused classroom looked on.


End file.
